The K-3 III Image Corner Blur Issue Strikes Again

Camera-gear YouTuber Kobie M-C tested the K-3 and K-3 III side by side and here is his report:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pH2eQD6fpA0

And, his quick textual comment follows, quoted:

"Some interesting things occurred during the shooting for this test. It seems the K-3 Mark III sensor out resolves some lenses including the DA 50 1.8 which surprised me. It's a good lens, nice and sharp, but just not on the K-3 Mark III. I tried live view, electronic shutter, Focus fine adjustments from -10 to +10 and it was still soft. F/1.8, 2.8, 4 (when the lens is sharpest) and still the same result. This might be what some professional reviewers are experiencing when they mention soft images."

The below quick snapshot refers for easy reference:

(Click to Enlarge)

In fact, Kobie's finding is exactly the same as what I found last time with my new K-3 III when it was tested against my KP side by side.

As the increase in the total number of pixels of the K-3 III against the K-3 and KP is really marginal, I think there exists another factor to cause the decrease in resolution in image corners for images produced by the K-3 III, even for the same old lenses, which used to be optically good. 

I suspect the (different) design of the micro-lenses and (different) assumed incident angle of light should come into play. Indeed, the new 26MP Sony sensor was first used in the Fujifilm X-T4 which has a much short back focal distance. Later on, Ricoh got this sensor and put it into the K-3 III. However, the new sensor is not that highly compatible with many of the old glass in optical sense, especially at the image corners and edges, and that wide angle lenses suffer more than standard and tele ones.

I have verified this with the latest glass marketed by Pentax, in particular, like the D-FA* 16-50 PLM, which shows a much lesser problem for the aforesaid issue and phenomenon. 

Related Article:

When the Sensor Outresolves the Lens

The LA-KE1 Monster Adapter is now Put On Sale

The Chinese Taobao website has already had the Chinese made LA-KE1 adapter put on sale (click here for one of the product links).

B&H also accepts pre-orders for this product and I think it will be available in the US very soon.

However, it can be seen in the comment section of the above Taobao product link from the users who have already purchased the adapter about the various issues such as its power hungriness and overheating, not supporting quite some Pentax AF lenses including the film FA50/1.4 and the digital DA17-70 and DA*200, as well as some noticeable delay in AF with the FA Limited lenses (and the AF is not quite smooth, too) and etc.

I hope this adapter will be improved later for better performance and compatibility, by means of firmware update and/or hardware revision. Not until that I shall consider to buy one for playing and use of my existing Pentax glass with my Sony FF mirrorless body.

Monster Adaptor (Pentax K to Sony E) Pre-production Reviews

 1. https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/4ekKr7wJePbjEOcf01lWaA

(in Simplified Chinese, Google English translated page here - but there will be no picture nor video as the Weixin server has disabled hot-linking from other websites)

The video clips for the AF tests with the FA31 are dead links anyway.

2. The below YouTube video tested the Monster Adaptor with the DFA*85/1.4 lens, it seems that the new SDM motor as well as the KAF4 electromagnetic aperture are both well supported by this version of the adaptor:

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz_5huMytRo)

The AF speed and response of the combo looks good.

Ultimate Savior for Pentaxians who Had been Hoping for a True K-mount Mirrorless (with Eye-AF etc.)

 A Chinese adaptor manufacturer has announced (Google translated English here) the world first full function K-mount to Sony E-mount adaptor, which will be made available by the end of this year 2020 (and is earlier than the launch date of the upcoming K-3 III)!

This adaptor will have screw-driving AF motor and aperture motor built-in and will support full auto functions of all K-mount lenses (possibly without any aperture block problem ;-P). The manufacturer states that the adaptor will first support A/F/FA/DA/DFA lenses which are screw-driven for the AF and will support SDM/DC/PLM AF function at a later stage via firmware upgrade.

They also mounted the three FA limited onto a Sony A7 III body via their adoptor, of which the combos look really tempting! :-D

And, their also shown a "video" to show the AF in action with the FA77 Limited, which the AF speed seems reasonably good enough, as long as the animated gif was not accelerated. ;-)

After all, I will almost certainly buy this adaptor (as I bought my A7 III two years ago) and still own more than three dozens of the Pentax or K-mount lenses (and most of them are AF ones). Possibly I shall skip and not buy the K-3 III as I found my KP is actually better for my use and shooting style. :-(

Related:  My Pentax Lenses are Given Completely New Lives!

Mod a DA*60-250 into a FF Lens! :-o

http://info.xitek.com/product/201604/20-197099.html

In Chinese, Google translate yourself if interested. And, do anything at your own risk!!

FA28 Vs DA35 Vignetting Test on K-1

https://www.flickr.com/photos/48733800@N06/albums/72157665925538734

Lens correction functions on distortion and vignetting, which are supported by the K-1 for the FA28, are disabled whilst for the DA35, it is not supported for any lens correction function in the FF mode of the K-1.

Well, how suitable are these lenses on the K-1 FF? Any how do they differ? I blog, you decide! :-)

My K-1 Impressions (Pure Text Quick Review)

The ergonomics of the K-1 is superb. It feels very comfortable to hold in hands and feels very solid and balanced. The overall build of the K-1 is very good, but the camera top feels a bit plasticky and hollow.

AF is really accurate, but hit rate is not 100%, sometime it missed, especially when focusing in a hurry or under low light. But when it hits, it is really accurate. Tried the three FA Limited wide opened, no problem. Tried several other A, FA, FA*, DA and DA* primes, they all focused accurately wide opened. The K-1 probably is the most accurate Pentax AFSLR ever made, since the MZ-S. I really like it! :-)

Focusing is faster and quieter than before. But the speed is not particularly fast when it is compared to other FF bodies of Canon and Nikon. Forget about focus tracking with multiple AF points for moving objects, the points are still not enough and are too much centred. There is still some room for improvement. 

Exposure accuracy is good, probably maybe a bit bright for its tendency, especially with film glass. Seems a bit more accurate with digital lenses. Nonetheless, the EV compensation is always there. It is quite easy to use with the quick function dial. I set it to +/- by default. Or, one can customise the e-dials to directly control the EV compensation.

Resolution of the images from K-1 is really superb. The per pixel sharpness is better than the Canon and Sony FF bodies that I have, even with the same lenses put on them. That's only my own subjective impression, though and no scientific measurbation has yet been made, because I am now busy with shooting with a good camera, instead of doing endless measurbation tests for faulty cameras.

Colour rendition is contemporary, which is now very Canon alike. It do taste very CMOS, the AWB is very white, maybe too white IMO than one would like to preserve the atmosphere even under the warm sunlight. But K-1 do really "catch up" with the game. ;-) I found it works best in the Natural mode, with the Saturation turned up one step.

Dynamic range is good, better than the Canon's. Noise is acceptable up to ISO 3200 and beyond that, use it unless it must be.

Lens correction now works very well. It is fast and there is no more delay as in older models, even with all the four corrected function enabled. Supported all DFA digital and FA* film lenses. DA lenses are supported in crop mode. Lens correction does not work in FF mode for DA lenses, even if they are actually FF compatible. On the other hand, for supported FF lenses, lens correction does work even when crop mode is selected.

Liveview operation is good, the liveview image will change according to the FF or crop mode selected (and of course). The LV AF is fast but unfortunate insensitive. It often missed focus with lower contrast, even under bright light situations outdoor.

There is nothing special for the video recording (movie) mode. And there is no live AF under movie mode. AF can be remeasured upon pressing of the AF button on demand by the user. It is not possible to capture any still photo during video recording.

The super articulated monitor is sturdy and easy to use, better than imagined before. Most importantly, the closed position is well aligned.

Mirror action is crisp but yet gentle, resemble the old feel of the MZ-S film flagship. The *ist D had similar feel in the mirror but however its movement is obvious too slow. Now the K-1's is quite good but I still hope that it could move faster anyway.

Viewfinder clarity is not as good as my Canon 5DIII which is brighter and clearer to see than the K-1, despite both have an overlaid LCD information display on the finder frame.

The electronic level indication is now very easy to see and follow. It is sensitive and accurate provided that you got a good copy. My first copy has good accuracy for the horizontal sensor but the vertical sensor is a little bit off.

GPS is sensitive and accurate and is very easy to turn on and off, with the dedicated button. WiFi is also easy to on and off with the special function dial. The red and blue LED indicators is a good design. However, the Ricoh Image Sync App is just a piece of junk, undoubtedly. It is difficult to use, with limited features and its operations are completely nonsense, even for the basic functions of browsing photos and for downloading.

[Official] Compatibility of the K-mount FF Converter with DA Lenses! ;-D

http://c758710.r10.cf2.rackcdn.com/files/support/manual/1394730000_DA_Rear_convertor_1.4x_Compatibility_Chart.pdf

Well, if you just don't understand why this is actually the Pentax K-mount 135 FF converter, read my previous experiment of this! :-P

Related:

Compatibility of DA Lenses on Full Frame

K-3 and Mac/iPad RAW Support

I received an email from a reader of this Blog and you may find the information he shared and the trick provided useful, as a K-3 user:

You may be aware that K-3 RAW images (both PEF and DNG) are not readable by Apple’s software such as iPhoto and Aperture, neither on the iPad with the Camera Connection Kit. There was no problem with my K-20D and K-5 before, but this time Apple and Ricoh seem to be out of touch, there is no fix in sight.

Now, I’ve done some research and found that it all comes down to a single byte: The DNG files have a “minimum version” field that tells the software that it needs to support this version in order to understand the data in the file. In K3’s DNGs this version is set to 2 while all previous Pentax DSLRs did put a 1 in there. And, alas, Apple’s software can’t deal with that.

Now, here’s the funny part: I wrote a little tool that changes this version field from 2 to 1. And with that, Apple’s software and the iPad can suddenly read and show those DNGs!

Now, it may still be that the DNGs contain some new information that Apple’s software can’t decypher, but I cannot see that the images suffer from it. Maybe it’s just some meta data that’s getting lost in this transition, but I could care less. All I care about is getting the raw data image out of it and that works just fine with that little fix.

I’ve made this tool and information available on pentaxforums.org, but didn’t get much response yet (http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/120-general-technical-troubleshooting/252732-k-3-mac-ipad-users-help-me-test-fix-raw-files.html). I’d like to get some more opinions on this, and see if others find any issues with this method. If not, I’d like to see if we can’t get Ricoh to issue a firmware update that changes this version number to solve this damm issue with Apple product.

Note: While there’s currently an “official” work-around, i.e. using Adobe’s DNG converter, this is not a solution on the iPad, as it can’t run this software. That’s why I like to get this solved properly, as I rather carry my lighter iPad than a Macbook around to review my images when I’m on the road.

Thomas

Official Information of the "New" HD DA 1.4X Teleconverter

http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/japan/products/lens/k/converter/lc-1_4x-aw/

The official on-sales date in the Japanese home-market will be March 7th. A full list of compatible Pentax K-mount digial lenses is provided, note that not every DA lens of Pentax/Ricoh is compatible.

Besides, it does look very familiar for its appearance specs including the physical parameters, many things are just too close to my ancient "Tamron" Pz (Power Zoom) TC 1.4X Model MC-4 that I purchased 14 years ago, which is yet believed to be original manufactured by Kenko!

For more information of the Tamron 1.4X MC4, look here:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tamron-F-AF-Tele-Converter-1-4X-Pz-AF-MC4-with-box-and-papers-/121171067435



Well, even the lens release lever looks exactly the same, what a "co-incidence"! :-o ;-)

But I just wonder, why it takes so long for Pentax to release such an OEM product, if it really is, which has been delayed for so many years since it was first announced back to 2008!?!

Nonetheless, my prolonged experience for that adapter is that it is great for APS-C cropped image circle but is just fair to rather mediocre optically when it works with Full Frame, no matter film or digial. Enough said! :-(

BTW, for real photo samples for how the "Tamron" 1.4X MC4 performs optically, here you will find some samples of mine:

K-5D Mark III: DA 18-55 II Converted to a 24-80 FULL FRAME Lens!

Super Deluxe A7R Unboxed @ Las Vegas

http://www.mobile01.com/topicdetail.php?f=254&t=3682934&p=1
(in Traditional Chinese)

The pictures are really astonishing! :-o

All the Canon EF lenses were adapted with full AF/AE/IS functions via a Metabones EF to E adaptor. Now Canon users can enjoy a 36MP FF body, finally! ;-p

Btw, once there is a Metabones K to E adaptor which supports full AE and AF functions some day later, than I can safely declare that Pentax is really dead! Who old Pentaxians still need to wait for a Pentax FF body forever then?!

New Q Body Firmwares Released

http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/english/support/digital/q_s.html

http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/english/support/digital/q10_s.html

http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/english/support/digital/q7_s.html

Well, will there be a new firmware upgrade, whenever a new lens is released and marketed? :-o

Excellent Pentax Film Glass Revived Finally!

The link sources of the above gear images with various photo samples are listed below. In particular, the potential of the three excellent FA Limited lenses are fully released and they are now revived for makng photos as what they were original designed and why they were born! Both A7 and A7R are used for making those photos, of which the long-awaited hungry and eager old Pentaxians have rushed to buy, at all costs and at the first time!! >:-o

FA31 Ltd on A7:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cyalex/sets/72157637701189436/with/11013313154/

The three FA Limited on A7:
http://forum.xitek.com/thread-564571-1-1-1.html

http://www.dchome.net/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=1233635

FA20 and FA31 Ltd on A7R:
http://www.dchome.net/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=1233936

FA18-35 on A7:
http://www.pentaxfans.net/thread-141628-1-1.html

Indeed, the most valuable thing for the A7/R for adapting those old K-mount film glass is that it is just so easy and direct. There is no modification of any to the lens is required! And with Sony's original MF focus peaking function, MF operation is actually quick, easy and accurate!

Update (11-30): Wow, even the old cheapo SMC-M 50mm F1.7 glass can produce images with IQ like that! See:

http://www.dchome.net/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=1235516

This is really the FF Magic! AoV is absolutely correct and no resolution is lost (owing to cropping)! All old lenses are performing as what they were designed, even for a lens that was produced half a century ago!!


Related - My K-mount Lens FF Adapts:

This is What the Limited Lenses Should be Put Onto!

DIY: Adapting the Pentax FA*85/1.4 onto the Cantax K-5D Mark III

Sample Photos of Full Frame Fisheye and 43 Limited on 5D

Some Sample Photos with FAJ 18-35 on 5D (Full Frame)

Compatibility List of Some Pentax Full Frame Lenses on Canon 5D Body

FF Mirrorless to Adopt All K-mount FF Lenses to Come in Less Than 3 Hours!

And the official countdown:



Via: SAR.


Related:

World's First 135 Full Frame Mirrorless is Coming!

The A Mount Seems to be Aborted, Will K Mount (Ricoh) Follow?

My First Leaked K-3 Specs Confirmed

The secret Pentax insider source of Digicame Info striked finally, here we go:

http://digicame-info.com/2013/10/k-3-7.html
(in Japanese)

Btw, most of the latest leaked information are the same as what I first leaked back to two weeks ago. Below are what's new and in addition:

- Optical low pass filter simulation by sensor shifting, three settings: Strong, Weak and Off;
- 27-point SAFOX 11: 25 cross AF sensors, central 3 with f/2.8 AF sensitivity;
- Continuous shooting rate at 8.3 fps maximum;
- Dual SDXC/UHS-I compliance SD card slots;
- HDR saved in RAW;
- 200k actuation life-time shutter;
- Supply in Silver and Black colours;
- Flucard compatible;
- New D-BG5 - dedicated grip solely for K-3.


Read Also: 

Full Review: K-5 Wi-Fi, Q Wi-Fi and EOS 5D6! ;-)

Lead Glass and Lead-free Glass for Photographic Lenses

I agree that these are long reads but really interesting:

http://optics.org/indepth/2/7/3

http://rohs.exemptions.oeko.info/fileadmin/user_upload/Stakeholder_comments/Exemption_13_several_industry-stakeholders_27_March_2008.pdf

Via: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/52159193

In short, lead-containing glass is still better optically, less temperature sensitive, more stable and actually cheaper to make. The use of lead in some optical appliances is actually exempted by RoHS directive but the adoption of lead-free glass in photographic lenses is yet the trend and the future of the industry.

Btw, I am glad that I still have some of those toxic Pentax glass that are lead-made, including some of the best F, F*, FA* and FA Limited lenses, which are now used on my Canon 5D3 FF, examples here and here! :-D

AF Fine Adjustment: "Apply All" and "Apply One" Fully Explained

Quite some time ago, I explained how to focus adjust a K-5 camera using Live View. However, there are some confusions amongst Pentax users over time for the meanings and effects of the "Apply All" and "Apply One" settings. So, I opt to explain more this time. Well, the user manual tells nothing useful about these once again, just see page 126 of the K-5 user manual! >:-(

For a camera like the K-5 and K-30/50/500 which lacks a f/2.8 sensors, this "AF Fine Adjustment" is crucial so as to compensate the spherical aberration that exists on all lenses when stopped down against wide opened, which causes the camera to mis-focus depending on the amount of differences. It is because the AF system actually measures the more central part of the lenses optically for those f/5.6 AF sensors.

So, here we go, we have four scenarios:

1. Nothing is Set:



This is essentially the same as to set in the Custom Function that the "AF Fine Adjustment" is Turned Off / Disabled.

2. "Apply All" is Set but "Apply One" Not:



So, All lenses will use the "+5" setting as shown in the above example which is obvious. Do note that a +ve setting is meant to instruct the camera to focus fronter (to compensate back focusing) and vice versa for a "-ve" value to instruct the camera to focus backwards (to compensate front focusing).

3."Apply All" is Not Set and "Apply One" is Set (for Individual Lenses):



This is also obvious, the "Apply One" setting will take effect when individual lens is mounted of which the lens identity number is detected (for a Pentax F AF lens or later). So, I now know why the official user manual just tells you "Apply All" means apply all, "Apply One" means apply one or something like that but no more! ;-p

Choose this only if your camera does not contain any AF error primitively by itself, like my own K-5 unit which is a perfect copy already! :-D

4. Both "Apply All" and "Apply One" are Set:



Well, what does it mean under this case? Is it actually +2, +5 or +7?? What do you think? :-o For what I checked, it is actually +2, that means that the "Apply One" setting overrides the "Apply All". Whilst this does make sense somehow but however, the "Apply One" is not applied on top of the "Apply All" as many Pentax users wished!

Btw, if you have a copy of your Pentax camera which needs some slight adjustment by itself for *all* lenses, i.e. sample variations with some system errors, set both and remember to individually calibrate all your lenses unless the "Apply All" already works for all your lenses, i.e. scenario #2! Frankly, if you have more prime lenses like me, calibrating each lens is inevitably unavoidable!

Last but not least, some people would be puzzled for what to do with a cheap DAL or even "DA" lenses which does not have a focusing mark (namely, the DA35/2.4, DA50/1.8 and the DA40/2.8XS lens). Well, what you need to do is to put on a sticker and make the mark yourself before doing any further calibration! See the following example. :-)



Besides, some people would still wonder, do the K-5II/s need such "AF Fine Adjustment"? My answer is Yes, if you are using really Fast Prime like the DA*55/1.4 or just an old FA50/1.4 and etc., of which spherical aberration still occurs in between the widest aperture of f/1.4 down right to the f/2.8 aperture where the AF is detected and measured. So, the above techniques do still always apply! And also don't forget that not every copy of the K-5II/s is perfectly quality controlled when it was produced from the Pentax' (and now Ricoh's) factory.

When the Wrong Lens Hood is Used for the Same Lens..

Then vignetting or even dark corners will happen, for the case of the same Q 02 lens that is used on a Q/Q10 versus a Q7, see the following test:

http://bbs.kakaku.com/bbs/K0000264454/SortID=16353126/?Reload=%8C%9F%8D%F5
(in Japanese, Google translation to English Here.)

So, the new flower-shaped lens hood must be purchased separately for the old lens owners, otherwise the old lens hood cannot be used, since it is incompatible.

It seems that Pentax had no good planning in changing the sensor size, so just causing this problem.

Btw, according to the test results, the dark corners are even larger in area when the automatic lens correction is turned off. Do note also the serious barrel distortion of the 02 lens that actually produced, which is terrible:



When it is corrected, it looks somehow better, see and compare:



So, nowadays, the trend of those camera and lens manufacturers are giving us junk lenses, and then images are corrected by software. Of course, there is no free lunch after all, some IQ must be lost and the correction would never be perfect.

Q7/Q10 Designers' Stories (Interviews)

http://dc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/interview/20130719_607368.html

The above article is in Japanese, an Excite machine-translation to English can be found here.

Actually, there is not much useful information that we do not know, but if you still want to read it further, just click the above! ;-)

Metz 58AF-1 Hotshoe Upgrade (Old to New Version, from Plastic to Metal, plus New PCB)

Read this:-

http://www.pentaxfans.net/thread-138657-1-1.html
(in Traditional Chinese, but posted pictures are self-explanatory.)



So, the hotshoe base material has been changed, from plastic to metal. The PCB inside/underneath has been updated too. It can be seen that the whole circuit board design has completely been revamped.

Speaking of those Metz flashguns for Pentax, last time they released an update of the firmwares for their newer models that enabled the HSS on the newer Pentax bodies but there existed a major bug that caused the A and M modes disabled. They soon released an updated version of 4.1 which contained the bug fix very shortly. For instance, the following link is the firmware download page for the 58 AF-2 flash:

http://www.metz.de/en/flash-units/firmware-download-flash-units/mecablitz-58-af-2-digital/pentax.html

After the above was released, I have checked on the web for the feedbacks from some Pentax users that the firmware update does work for them and there is no other major bug and issue found and reported so far.